CzechInvest launches incubator for Czech firms in the United States, also opens new foreign office

Today at 2 a.m. CET, CzechInvest presented the Czech Technology Accelerator project at the incubator’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, where the agency has also opened a new foreign office.

“In the past twenty years, the Czech Republic has come an unbelievably long way,” said macroeconomic analyst Tomáš Sedláček, during the presentation of the accelerator and grand opening of the new foreign office. “We definitely have something to learn from the local environment, though the opposite is also true, because we have had to master in two decades the development that took place over two centuries in the United States.”

“The United States is indisputably the biggest investor in foreign markets – every sixth dollar out of the total 1.7 trillion dollars in foreign direct investment in 2008 came from the US,” said Alexandra Rudyšarová, acting CEO of CzechInvest. “We therefore want to enhance the inflow of American investments to the Czech Republic with another branch office. We are also opening here a Technology Accelerator, thanks to which Czech firms or even university initiatives can receive three to six months of rent and services free of charge in California at the first-rate PlugandPlayTechCenter facility.”

“The concept of the Czech Technology Accelerator is fantastic,” stated Senta Čermáková, international marketing director at Hewlett-Packard and one of the highest-ranking Czechs in global business. “They have a proverb in Africa – when you want to run fast, run alone. When you want to go far, take someone with you. The Accelerator fully corresponds with this.”

The celebratory opening of the Technology Accelerator was attended by sixty guests. Invitations were accepted by representatives of company’s such as SAP, Adobe, Sun Microsystems and Apple. A range of venture capitalists came to have a look at this promising source of new investments. The opening also featured the participation of Czech commercial counsellors and representatives of Estonia, the Netherlands and Canada, which at PlugandPlayTechCenter operate facilities similar to the nascent Czech Technology Accelerator.

Besides the Technology Accelerator, CzechInvest’s newly opened foreign office will be responsible for attracting new investors to the Czech Republic mainly from the West Coast of the United States. Since its establishment in 1992, CzechInvest has brought to the Czech Republic 138 projects from the United States in the total value of CZK53.359 billion. These investments have resulted in the creation of 27,996 jobs. CzechInvest currently has another American office in Chicago.

Czech technology accelerator – presentation of the project

“The ideal candidate for the Technology Accelerator is a Czech start-up firm or possibly an established company that has a unique new business concept; interesting university projects can also get space in the incubator,” explains Lenka Kučerová, director of CzechInvest’s foreign office for the West Coast of the United States. “The project is open particularly to concepts from the areas of information and communication technology, biotechnology and clean technology.”

The Czech firm OnTheRoad.to is just such a company. Its website allows users to follow their travels around the world and add multimedia and other content. The project is the brainchild of Michal Bláha, a founder of the atlas.cz portal. “OnTheRoad.to is a typical Web 2.0 project,” stated Michaela Romanová, marketing and business-development manager of the OnTheRoad.to, in the company’s PlugandPlayTechCenter profile.

“Being in the United States makes it substantially easier for us to find contacts to key people. An excellent example is the founder of PlugandPlayTechCenter, Saeed Amidi. Once while playing tennis he met an interesting person from PayPal, which was a young start-up at that time. He invested a few thousand dollars and later made millions when PayPal was acquired by eBay. These are things that perhaps can happen only here,” said Romanová.

“The Technology Accelerator will help Czech firms to stand their ground for as long as possible at a time when they don’t need a strategic investor for further operation. Thus they can develop their plans and offer functional and proven products that will put them in a much stronger position when negotiating with a potential investor,” added Lenka Kučerová.

“Besides office spaces and services, entrepreneurs will primarily gain easy access to potential strategic partners and first-rate advisors, and they will be able to participate in regularly scheduled networking events with investors and other people who can help them in their business endeavours,” said Lenka Kučerová

“If commercial projects are successful, they can establish a new branch or subsidiary here, or perhaps a virtual office. They will go home with order and contacts which they can further develop. This also applies for university students who, thanks to an internship at the incubator, will gain far more precise and well-formed ideas about their own future projects,” Kučerová added.

CzechInvest tentatively calculates that the Technology Accelerator can be used by roughly ten firms annually – ideally in California there will always be two start-up firms, one established firm and one university initiative. CzechInvest plans to publish detailed regulations for the Technology Accelerator, including the process of selecting candidates, during the next quarter.

For more information please contact the CzechInvest Press Centre

Lucie Kocourková, spokesperson, phone: +420 296 342 538, lucie.kocourkova@czechinvest.org   

Contact to CzechInvest’s foreign office for the West Coast of the United States

Lenka Kučerová, tel.: +1 (408) 524 1690, e-mail: california@czechinvest.org